State announces $116,000 in grants to promote local seafood industries

Mary Whitfill The Patriot Ledger thelittlewreck

Tuesday

Mar 19, 2019 at 10:51 AMMar 19, 2019 at 2:23 PM

The state says it plans to pour $116,000 into research projects meant to increase awareness and demand for Massachusetts seafood products.

The grants, which were issued by the state's seafood marketing program, include $25,000 for the Burlington-based Fishing Partnership Support Services; $41,034 for the Urban Harbors Institute at UMass-Boston; and $50,000 for authors Michael T. Carroll and Josh Weirsma, who will create a survey tool to assess consumer preferences for local seafood.

Matthew Beaton, the state's secretary of energy and environmental affairs, said this year's grants were "focused on funding research to ensure new information will be available to those working in our commercial fishing and seafood industries.” The Fishing Partnership will use the money to research current seafood traceability programs and encourage fishermen to use them as a way to ensure they can receive a premium price for their catch. At UMass-Boston, the money will help researchers gather information for each fishing harbor in Massachusetts and develop unique port profiles to help the state meet the needs of individual communities.

The Division of Marine Fisheries' seafood marketing grant program was created three years ago in an attempt to support the state's hard-hit commercial fishing and seafood industries. The fishing industry, concentrated on the South Shore through piers in Marshfield and Scituate, has struggled in recent years as new fishing regulations and changes to state and federal laws make it nearly impossible for a new generation of fishermen to break into the industry.

The state's seafood industry employs about 100,000 people and has an economic impact of $2 billion.